What You Like: Self Drive or Chauffeur Driven?

. This is a discussion on What You Like: Self Drive or Chauffeur Driven? within Road Safety & Driving Sense. Part of The Rev Zone category; Team Buddies,
In today's hectic life we see driving around the city as a pain and have long forgotten the ...

In today's hectic life we see driving around the city as a pain and have long forgotten the pleasure of driving our cars ourselves. Majority of us have opted for a chauffeur/ Driver for our cars so that we can reach our destination in time without hassle of driving all the way.

However, it does appear to be convenient but literally we have lost out on the self-drive pleasure rather our chauffeurs feel blessed to be given sedans/ premium hatchbacks and SUV to drive and moreover pay them heavily at the end of the month.

There are many shortfalls in chauffeur driven cars like being challaned, being edged or nudged and mostly the theft of fuel from cars. Apart from them, the cars are not as clean as the owner may like it but still we compromise as chauffeurs are turning out to be a basic need.

So, I would like to know, what you actually prefer/ like i.e to self drive the car or being driven around by a chauffeur?

Those TAI members who are below 18 years may share whether their parents like to drive by own self or they have chauffeurs for daily commute.

Well for the hectic city life where it takes just as long to find parking as reaching the destination ,then i would have prefered the driver/chauffeur.

If you have money to spare & have a daily life where finding parking is a nuisance & hate/face traffic like it makes you go to tears then it has to be chauffeur,keep in mind its around 8000 to 15000 per month for the chauffeur,its similar or more than a car emi.

I am single & prefer self driven & stick to medium size cars as i have no daily business/work to tend to.
But some of my friends are married & have families so such people as i have noticed prefer chauffeurs cos of hectic lifestyle like dropping kids to school,wife cant drive/mom cant drive/can drive but parking prob,dads not in good health,etc. But when they go for family outings they drive themselves so the family can talk freely & have their freedom.

I have been driving myself since 7 years and will keep on driving myself, my father is chauffeur driven since 12 years and he is happy with that.

Chauffeur is helpful when you have a lot of work and you can complete half of it(files, typing on laptop, phone calls) while in the long drives, or during full night drives you and your chauffy can take turns to drive or while in dense traffic.

Day before yesterday a guest was visiting us. He had a Tata Indica V2, with driver. When I started getting bored, started browsing TAI. But there were no new interesting topics, hence I started checking the prices of VW Polo, Tata Zest, etc. Just then,

Guest:"Hey, what's the pricing of the Zest? Please tell me."
Me:"Ya, I'll check that in a min"*starts searching for the prices*
Mom:"He's really interested in cars!"
Guest:"There's nothing else than cars on his screen, I can tell that."
Me:*found the prices* "Sir, what model do you want to know the prices of? Petrol or Diesel?"
He:"Basically I want the AMT model."
Me:*Man, you have a driver already!* "It's 7 lacs ex showroom, the middle model. That's the only one available in AMT."
He:"No top model?"
Me: "Sorry, only the mid-variant is available in AMT. Why do you need AMT anyways?"
He: "Had an accident, and since then my right leg houses a rod and 13 screws. Was driving my brand new car from delivery, but because of that my right leg couldn't get off the acc pedal and BANG!"
Me: *I can imagine your plight, but WAIT! Don't you have a driver? And even if you do not have one, you aren't gonna use the left leg to accelerate, are you?* "Who's gonna drive the car?"
He: "I have the driver."
Me: "Well don't mess around with AMT then, just sit back and relax."
He: "Asynhrujnj jureubskdjb hrnla;lkd" (Some gibberish I could not understand, but nod silently)
Me: "It costs 7 lac. You also have other automatics, if you want."
He: "No, Tata is the best I have the Indica and I can tell"
Me: "Zest is a really good offering from TMIL"
He: "My Indica served me for....."

For me, the choice depends on the car or the road on which the car has to be driven.
I prefer to drive my Ertiga mostly and i can drive him for maximum about 500 kms without any change of driver on one day, after which I may need rest. Then I hand over the keys to my dad and get the back seat.
I wouldn't prefer to drive an i20 or Verna and I don't know whether I would want to be chauffeur driven in them too.
For me, if I like the car and it's handling, I would prefer to drive it to my max rather than being driven.

In hectic bumper to bumper traffic many times I felt like parking the car somewhere on the roadside and boarding a rickshaw.
But the thought of hiring a driver never crossed my mind!
Few reasons why I prefer to drive myself.

1) Basically I love driving. Even the frantic pune traffic doesn't irritate me much, unless I had a bad day at work or something like that. Music keeps me cool.
2) Rear seats are vacant in my car most of the time, and I am not sure I need or can afford a chauffeur for just a hatch.
3) It feels like you lack freedom when someone who is not a friend or family drives, you can't be you in presence of outsiders (at least for me)
4) Even when I am just seated aside a new driver I can't keep my eyes off the road. In short I will end up having the mental strain of traffic without driving,
and possibly can piss off the driver for ghost steering the car.

never will let a chauffeur drive my car as long as i can drive, be it city ride or highway runs. runs in the family - my dad who is 76 years young still drives - cities as well as long distances like 125 kms to my place.

Always self driven whether day or night, city or highway, bumper to bumper or free highway as long as I like the vehicle to drive.

I hired a Chaffeur for two times on my car.
1. After taking delivery to drive down to my home on combination of rain, night city, traffic, i'm just new to driving.
2. First long trip 800KMs based on compulsion of my family members.

3) It feels like you lack freedom when someone who is not a friend or family drives, you can't be you in presence of outsiders (at least for me)

Exactly so. Whenever you go,by the river side or restaurants,driver is an outsider. The joy of driving freedom has no comparison. If you go to your relatives home,the time spent there can not be restricted. But if car is driven by your permanent driver he will ask you to release him early for he has to go home.